Overview
The constitution of a concrete "political community"—the "polity" or "civitas"—is not a matter of minor importance. The "act" that underlies the transformation of "power" into "authority" is precisely the recognition of the manifestation of popular consent. It is through this deliberative "act" that the "people," the "multitude," is transformed into a "collective self." In other words, the foundation of authority, the basis of political power, lies in the creation of a free society composed of free men, equal in rights.
Summary
1. The dilemmas of representative democracy;
2. Democracy and public deliberation;
3. The return of decisionistic theories;
4. Europe between populism and technocracy;
5. The migration crisis;
6. The specter of demagoguery and populism;
7. The resistible rise of authoritarianism.
